Where did you start?

[Sar]

I've googled a lot of things and done some prep work (though I'm still missing incense) and I think I'm just about ready to start when the full moon hits (a friend told me I should cleanse my new deck under the full moon first before I use them since I don't have other means of cleansing them atm) and being around here got me thinking...

 

I was wondering where and how you all started. What was your personal experience when first getting into Tarot and reaching your intuition? What knowledge do you think is good for a newbie to know beforehand and what would you pass on to someone just starting out?

 

I have heard that too, and a lot of other rules one should do before reading. It was so time consuming so I just let go of all rules all together.

 

 

[FoolishEevee]

Sar that almost sounds crazy enough to work! :o All joking around yeah...there are so many rules...If I waited to do all of them (Waiting for that full moon took just about forever x.x) then I'd never be able to work with my cards ha ha Sooo I just dropped most of em ^^" I'll do what makes me happy and is the best in my opinion :3

 

rakusribut it is sadly too late for me. I have already looked inside the guidebook :( Thankfully that companion blog Page of Ghosts posted really helped clear up confusion I have about the cards! Maybe I should try to go bookless but I don't trust my own intuition entirely yet :( I still miss a lot from the cards. My study sessions have proven that a bit already.

 

The class sounds interesting though :o I wouldn't mind learning more about it and how I can get involved. And I shall do my best to learn what I can here and in other forums ^^ Maybe I should try branching out and learning through doing readings rather than just doing my daily reading and pulling three cards to simply study... My beginner book came in so maybe I should start working with that soon too \o/ we'll just have to see!

[Page of Ghosts]

I wanted to touch upon it in my 1st post in this thread, but if you really want to cleanse/charge your cards there are other ways than the full moon. I'd probably forget about that moon all the time and especially when you enjoy buying / using different decks I personally wouldn't have the patience or see the point when there are a bunch of other options:

 

- put the deck in something that protects it and bury it in some salt / the actual earth. 

- use crystals! A clear quartz is a good all around one, but you could use more specific ones you associate with divination, healing, cleasing and other stuff that fit with how you use decks and see tarot.

- put the deck in order. This one is for used decks and decks you've used for a while as new decks usually come with all the cards already ordered. People have different orders to the cards, but it's usually Majors, then the 4 suits 1 to King after another. I've heard this "resets" the deck.

- charge with music! This is a wacky one I've used when I've made some sort of "protected whilst travelling"-magical item, but I think you could easily do this with a deck too. For travelling I use Final Fantasy map themes as when you have the "no encounters"-ability you won't get jumped by monsters and random encounters, which is exactly what I want when I'm out anxiously travelling ;)

 

These are the few suggestions I can remember, but there are a bunch more I know I've heard of. When I cleansed my 1 used deck that I could see from the cards had been used a lot I used a combo of putting the cards in my preferred order and then letting it sit overnight with a clear quartz on top of it. Maybe there was an obsidian on there too, it was some years ago so I don't remember it too well. Anyway, if you ever want to cleanse or charge a deck I just wanted to put this out there so you won't have to wait for that moon again  :P

[Trogon]

Page of Ghosts makes some very good points on cleansing decks and her suggestions are excellent. And, like many, I mostly just put a deck back in order to kind of "reset" any minor accumulated energy - and for the most part, that has worked very well for me. I think a deck needs to be around a lot of negativity before I would feel a need for a full or partial cleansing (for example, if a deck were in an abusive household then ended up in the used book store, I would probably sense that and want to do a cleansing). Now, having said all that, I do have 3 rituals that I would use depending on the severity of the need (in ascending order of how much is needed). Also, these are from my notes which are kind of old now, but for the most part this is what I do;

 

1) After several readings in a short time, or as needed to clear a deck: Clear your mind, relax & concentrate on clearing accumulated readings. Shuffle 7 or 9 times - cutting out & rotating about 1/3 of the deck every other shuffle.

 

2) When a deck is muddled, or seems to have accumulated some negativitiy: Clear your mind, light a sage bundle. Fan out the deck & hold it in your dominant hand, with sage in your other hand, allow smoke to directly flow over the deck, turning it back & forth while stating; "I invite only positive energies and bansih negative influences from this deck" (repeat 3 times). Shuffle 7 or 9 times as in #1.

 

3) If a deck seems to have negative connections, cords, influences (especially from previous owners): Perform smudging as in #2 above. Using obsidian blade or other ceremonial blade - make cutting motion over each of the 6 surfaces of the deck while repeating "this severs all negative ties and energies from this deck" (repeat with each cutting motion). Shuffle 7 or 9 times (as in #1) to finish.

 

These are, as I said before, for varying degrees of need. I have not had to actually use #3 on a Tarot deck yet, though I have done so with a crystal which I had been given. It worked very well for that.

 

To add a little to what Page of Ghosts had suggested; A good-sized piece of hematite can also be used to help remove accumulated energy from items. Hematite is, in my experience, a very good stone for absorbing negative energies and neutralizing them so they can pass harmlessly back into the Earth. Take your deck out of the box, lay the stone on it while directing your intent into the stone (I will usually say something along the lines of "I direct that any negative or false energies be absorbed and neutralized and released into the Earth").

 

Selenite is also very good at clearing negativity. Clear quartz, as PoG mentioned is a good all-around crystal for energizing and adding positivity. Black obsidian can also dump negativity into the Earth.

 

I have not done so yet, but I don't think I would need (nor want) to wait on a specific phase of the Moon for any of these rituals. Not to say that I wouldn't wait on a phase of the Moon, or specific day of the year for other rituals or readings. I have done so and will do so in the future. Just not for clearing a deck. And personally, I wouldn't bother clearing a new deck ... those are going to be pretty neutral coming out of the factory. For the most part, all the machines and handling en-masse is just impersonal ... so there's nothing to absorb.

 

Hope this was of interest.

[Ix Chel]

At the beginning I was just reading books. I did not have a Tarot Journal. I started with my Tarot Journal, to improve my knowledge of the cards. It is now a book. But I have read somewhere, that the best way to learn Tarot is to write a book. I do not have a lot of decks. I am happy that I am not a deck collector, but I am a book collector instead. Always searching for the book, that does not exist, but the existence can be found in your Tarot journal. I always think about the cards. I do not use day, week or month cards. My biggest weakness is that I lay out my cards to less. I need to practise more. But I see Tarot cards everywhere. If I watch the news or a television show. You can always find the cards. At this moment I am addicted to compare people with court cards. I always use the RWS deck, I hope that one day I will conquer the Thoth Tarot.

[Page of Ghosts]

I came back to say that this thread ended up pushing the Wild Unknown to the front of my list. Hopefully I'll have it before the weekend so I can see what the fuzz is all about ;D

[Trogon]

I think I'm going to try doing something to help me learn the cards :o I think I'm going to try pulling 3 cards every day to just study. I'll just add it to my daily draw stuffs and hopefully I can get to the end of my deck faster \o/ Plus it'll be good practice shuffling, cutting, and working with my deck ^^

 

Also potentially stupid question, is there any significance to cards appearing in more than one place? Yesterday the Ten of Wands was my daily card on both my Galaxy Tarot app and my The Wild Unknown deck. Today The Star was my Galaxy Tarot daily card and the first card for my study pull.

 

I don't know what your time demands are like. But, if you (or anyone else) are interested, there is a 78 Weeks of Tarot study group starting shortly. As the name suggests, it is a study group that runs for 78 weeks and is designed to be a kind of in-depth card-by-card study of the Tarot. The informational thread (including links to the threads for the individual cards) is here; https://www.thetarotforum.com/78-weeks-of-tarot/78-weeks-of-tarot-sept-2017-march-2019/

 

You can do your study of each card, while continuing to do readings and what not as you work through the deck. Alternatively, you can do the 78 Weeks study with one deck, while using another for readings and other studies.

[EmpyreanKnight]

Years ago, my mom gave me my very first Tarot - the Mythic Tarot Deck and Book Set by Juliet Sharman-Burke. During that time I was very much into Greco-Roman mythology, so my heart was set on it. Everything in it from the art to the production to the attributions was on point, and the sheer wisdom that drips from the companion book made learning a breeze.

 

My next deck I bought for myself - The Original Rider Waite. I remember that getting it was a bit of an adventure, since back then Tarot decks were very rare in my country. Well, it still is, but not to the same extent as back then. Unfortunately, I was very busy during college (Asian emphasis on education and good grades, tiger mom, yup), so Tarot fell to the wayside.

 

Two years ago, I bought the Thoth Tarot bundled with Ziegler's Tarot: Mirror of the Soul. I fell utterly in love with it, and there was no turning back. I bought a horde of Tarot decks, sets, and books since then. I have already conducted deep, personal studies on the Thoth and the (Centennial) RWS, but there is just so much more to learn on the two, let alone my other decks. Sometimes work and social obligations would make great demands on my time and my interactions with Tarot would flag a bit, but unlike before it never totally stopped. I can say it's very much a part of who I am now, and it's here to stay.